Another Dream Come True

After I’ve graduated from Constellation College of Hospitality with a Diploma in Hotel and Restaurant Operations and Management, I wanted to enroll in Culinary Arts but time and money were up against my plans to continue my studies, so it was time to put aside my dream and go back to work after being laid off during the recession of the 1990’s.

I had the opportunity to go back to school to upgrade my skills and possibly change careers in my life when I lost my job and got unemployed. Human Resources Canada in the government department gave us the opportunity to go back to school and take courses to upgrade our employment skills and earn a Diploma in the process. We were granted vouchers to cover the expenses for our selected courses taken that I have completed with honours after 8 long months.

I have always loved cooking special meals and having gourmet dinners at expensive restaurants. After missing my chance to take Culinary arts, my dream of cooking gourmet meals was crushed. Someday I want to learn how to cook gourmet meals, if ever I get another chance to do so.

Then one day, I saw an ad in the papers about a company organized by a group of Chefs that creates meals for you to cook when you order their prepared menus for 2 persons at a cost of $10.95 a meal with free delivery. You get all the ingredients to prepare the menu (delivered to your house in a refrigerated box with dry ice) and cook the meals yourself at home. It was a very reasonable offer and I ordered it online after signing up. I got 50% off my first order (3 Menus for 2 persons) good for 6 meals.

When my first order arrived, I was so enthusiastic about preparing my very own gourmet meals. It was quite a struggle for someone who is not a real chef but I managed to finish cooking the meals according to the recipe instructions of the menus that came with the orders. I plated the cooked meal and it was a complete success. It even tasted as good as a gourmet meal that you eat in luxurious places like Winston’s Restaurant in Toronto.

Here’s the gourmet meals that I’ve learned to cook with the help of great chefs, STEAK AND ROASTED RED PEPPER SALSA with oregano potatoes and garlic broccolini, CHICKEN PUTTANESCA LINGUINE with tomatoes, Kalamata olives, capers and zucchini and SEARED SALMON with fingerling potatoes, Brussels sprouts and almonds. And we enjoyed eating these gourmet meals!

Well, another dream come true. I didn’t get to study Culinary Arts but with the help of experienced Chefs offering great ways to cook your own gourmet meals, what else can you wish for? Probably more gourmet meals, huh. What a blissful way to have dinner at home with your loved ones and preparing the gourmet meals by yourself, Superb! And have a lovely dinner paired with the appropriate wine selected to go with the meals cooked.

It’s quite a luxury for us seniors though to cater to expensive meals like that but to experience and cook it yourself once in a while is a great experience of a lifetime. It was after all another dream come true! Will I ever order again? Maybe for special occasions like Christmas Eve dinner or New Year’s Eve dinner or perhaps a birthday dinner someday I’d like to try cooking gourmet meals again.

Oly is the travel blogger, documentarian on lakbaypilipinas.ca, also a writer-poet, photographer and artist whose work constitutes a blog-documentary in many aspects of life, people, places, arts, culture and traditions, even architecture. It's about trips at home and abroad, also flashbacks of trips on years gone by, reminiscing memorable experiences then back to the future and now, all these in the new blog. You will see, hear and read about the travels, feasting on foods around the globe, meeting people in places that she visits and sharing their traditions and goodwill, who visits countries that others only dream about and who wants to share with you all of her experiences never to be forgotten in this lifetime. From her old hometown to her new home she will marvel you with stories, and show you how small the whole world really is; if you love to travel. Now, let's start that wonderful journey together.